The Worst Curse of All
by oqfangirl
Summary: The emotional aftermath of what happened in the diner at the end of 3x22. Eventual Outlaw Queen. All rights go to the respective owners of Once Upon a Time, I own neither the story nor the characters.
1. Chapter 1

_Again, I own nothing._

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Her stomach dropped, her throat tightened, her eyes stung with tears.

It had all slipped out of her grasp.

Just like that.

Her second chance at true love and happiness.

The _only _chance she had left. How many people get a third chance at true love?

The tears were threatening to escape.

Regina was overcome with emotions and thoughts, all leading back to the tattoo and what it had meant and yet all hope was gone. In what realm would a man ever possibly choose her over the mother of his child, the woman he would have "gone through hell to be with again."

She would not let them see her cry.

Without another glance at the happy reunited family or at the naive princess who had just wanted to save a life, she poofed herself out of the diner and collapsed on the floor of her vault with a strangled cry.

She drew her knees to her chest and covered her face with her hands, wondering how it could have gone so terribly wrong.

She had defeated her wicked sister, and she had done it with light magic.

_Villains don't get happy endings._

The thought crept into her mind and she let out an anguished moan because she had done everything she could to prove that she was not a villain; she had tried so hard to show that she could be a hero.

Where did good get her?

Nowhere.

She was alone, just as she would have been if she had still been the Evil Queen.

Emma had Henry; Regina would never fully have him all to herself ever again.

And then her chance at happiness with Robin…it was too much.

Robin, who had broken down her walls, who had seen past her Evil Queen persona the very first time they had met in Storybrooke, who had showed her he cared for her in a way she hadn't thought any one would.

Robin, for whom she had taken a giant leap of faith to kiss that night in the forest.

Robin, who had returned her heart to her, just as he promised.

Robin, who had given her hope that had never seemed possible before she had met him.

False hope, that was, now.

She couldn't breathe because of the pain, pain she hadn't felt this intensely since Daniel's murder at her mother's hands.

Figures it would be inadvertently because of the Charming family, again.

Would things have been different if she had approached him in the tavern?

Or would Marian have been in the way even then?

How could he possibly be her true love - no, worse - how could Regina be his true love when he still loved Marian? He would never leave Marian now that she was alive and well. The thought repeated over and over again in her head; how could he leave Roland's mother for Regina? He still loved Marian, and he always would. The only place Regina would ever occupy in his life would be a distant memory of the last few blissful days that they had spent wrapped up in each other's arms, stealing glances and kisses whenever they could.

If Marian died…

No. She stopped herself from thinking like that. She had come so far from being the Evil Queen, and she had worked so hard to be good and worthy of Henry, she would not throw it all away. Had she learned nothing from her experience with Henry? Robin would never love her if she took away the mother of his child, his wife. He would never forgive her.

And even if Marian died, somehow, without any attempts on Regina's part, if Robin did come back to Regina, wouldn't he just be settling for something second best?

Regina could not bear to think of herself as second best when it came to love. Either it was true and earth-shattering and magical, or it was nothing. The only way she would be happy would be if he chose her over Marian.

But he never would.

Why would he?

Love meant sacrifice, didn't it? Love meant putting someone else's needs and wants above your own, wishing all the best and happiness for the other person.

Loving Robin - which she had come to realize she did, even if they had had so little time together - meant letting him be happy with his wife and child.

There would be no room for her in his happiness.

Tears still falling and gasping for air between sobs, she reached into her chest and pulled out her heart.

The pain diminished slightly, but there would always be a hole in her chest that she would never have the chance to fill.

The worst curse of all had been placed on her; she would never have someone.

Standing shakily, she placed her heart in a box and locked it up. She walked out of her vault slowly and unsteadily and to her bedroom, where she collapsed on her bed and crawled under the covers, hoping she would wake up and the whole thing would be just a bad dream.

As she drifted to sleep, her eyes puffy from crying, she had one thought:

Tinkerbell was wrong.

She was destined to be alone.

Pixie dust could fail.

**NB: So if you read this, thanks! It's my first time writing any kind of story, ever. Outlaw Queen just gives me a lot of feels so I had to write something.**

**Let me know what you think! I was thinking of perhaps adding another chapter or something about Robin's reaction, followed by a first meeting again after the fact...but only if there is demand for it!**

**:)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Stream of consciousness, again.**

**This was SO HARD to write. Regina's POV was so easy, since it was an easy connection, but this wasn't. Robin is kind of an enigma to me. There are so many different ways Robin could have reacted...I wanted to choose one that seemed the most realistic to me. I don't intend for Robin to come off douche-y here in any way.**

**_I own nothing._**

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_"I didn't know."_

_"Of course you didn't. Well, you just better hope to hell you didn't bring anything else back."_

He was so wrapped up in relishing in the contact with his newly reunited family, the words came to him as though muffled by water.

Once the words sunk in, however, once he registered whose voice he heard, and once he discerned the hurt that was not so subtly concealed behind the biting words, the feeling of absolute elation that had come with coming face to face with Marian again - his Marian - dissipated and was replaced with one of bewilderment.

Before he could even attempt to figure out what that sudden feeling meant, he looked up from the embrace of his wife and son and saw that _she_ had vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

His mind reeled.

He could only imagine the state she must be in, he just hadn't had time to think or process very well what the sudden reappearance of Marian meant to him...and what it would mean for _them. _

He slowly disentangled himself from the familial embrace, and gazed at the spot where Regina had been standing, mouth slightly agape, shocked at the turn of events.

From the corner of his eye, in a way that seemed much more distant than the few inches that it really was, he saw and heard Marian whispering into their son's ear how much he had grown since she had last seen him, how she had missed him, how she would do everything in her power to make sure they would never be parted again.

For so long, he had suffered over the loss of Marian. He had believed her to be dead, he had felt guilty thinking that it had all been his fault. But here she was. Safe, alive, holding their child to her and stroking Roland's hair.

He turned from the spot where Regina had been standing and guided Marian and his son into the booth where he had been sitting before.

Before he caught sight of his wife.

Before, he realized, he had inflicted a wound on Regina's heart. A heart already so battered and bruised. He ached to comfort her...

But, his wife was here!

He knew the next few days would be rough. He would have to make a choice, and someone's heart would have to be shattered.

Robin was torn.

Would he pick his family, or the woman with whom he had spent the last few days and who had made him glow with the prospect of new love and a second chance? The woman who had borne his child, or the woman whose heart he had rescued, and until now, whose heart he had endeavoured to get to know completely and to always protect?

As he watched Roland animatedly telling Marian about his growing archery skills, he realized that with Roland's existence, any decision he had to make would be even more difficult.

His beautiful boy deserved his mother. He deserved a happy family. After all, that's what they had been up until Marian's disappearance.

When had everything gotten so complicated?

The past few days he had spent with Regina in Storybrooke had been the happiest days of his life since the days he had had with Marian back in the Enchanted Forest.

Even before Storybrooke, when they had met in the Enchanted Forest, Regina had perplexed and attracted him. Even then, they had shared a connection. He had been sure she had felt it too. Why else would she had tried so hard to keep him at arm's length with her snide remarks? The different manifestations of their relationship in the Enchanted Forest and in Storybrooke replayed in his mind, even as he tried to focus on his family in front of him. He hadn't dared to hope that Regina would ever let her guard down as she had on that night when they broke into her castle together, and yet in Storybrooke, she had entrusted her heart to him and she had opened up to him about her fears that she wasn't powerful enough to defeat her sister.

But she had wielded light magic, and he had returned her heart. Just that afternoon they had been celebrating that fact, having a little picnic on the floor of her living room. It had seemed then like they had their whole life ahead of them, to spend together. She had confessed to him that she was finally ready to open up her heart and let love in, and she was ready to do that with him. The way she had teared up when she told him what they had was more than she had ever allowed herself to hope for, the way she had smiled into their kisses in a way that he could feel her happiness, the way that she had played with Roland and bought him ice cream before they had walked into the diner, it all replayed through his mind.

And then this?

It didn't seem fair.

Not to him, and definitely not for her. He could see that.

He cared for her, that was for certain. Up until a few minutes ago, he had felt complete excitement at the prospect of care turning to love - by this point, it had come so close to that - as they spent their days together, he had hoped the rest of their lives would be full of such euphoria. Her confession about his tattoo and what Tinkerbell had said kept rushing back into his mind. When she had revealed that detail, looking up at him from under her lashes and running her fingers over his tattoo, the temporary dread that he wasn't the one Tinkerbell had led her to had been replaced with giddiness.

But what could it possibly mean now? They were supposed to be each other's second chance, but what was supposed to happen when the first chance suddenly came back and was still possible?

Again, looking at Roland, the little boy he loved with his entire being, he knew what the honourable thing to do would be.

Love meant sacrifice.

He had made a promise to Marian all those years ago, and he always made sure to keep his promises.

Yes, _the thief had honour._

He still loved her. He would always love her. But that did not mean that he could ignore the sense of loss that had started to take root the second he saw the purple smoke taking Regina away.

He would figure it all out, eventually. He would go find Regina; he couldn't let her think she had been completely forgotten, or that his feelings for her had just disappeared. But he would have to make her understand, somehow. It wouldn't be easy, especially since he had come to feel deeply for her, and knew that she felt the same for him.

For now, however, he would relish in taking the opportunity he had never thought he would have again. He would have dinner with Roland and his mother, like a proper family.

Yes, he would have dinner with his family, but even the happiness he felt at seeing Marian again could not abate the intense, ever present gnawing in his stomach of what he would have to do come morning.

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**_Author's Note: _(I may have teared up while writing this.)**

**This ****story was just supposed to be a one shot of Regina, but your awesome and wonderful reviews encouraged me to write more! Thank you so much for all of your kind words! I never thought it would get such a great response.**

**I'm sorry for making you sad! It's just such a messy situation, and there's no easy way out. I can't see Marian just dying, because then Regina is the second choice, and I can't see Robin picking Regina over Marian immediately, because he would be too honourable for that or whatever. **

**THE SITUATION SUCKS.**

**Don't worry, if I continue this, it will end with happy!Outlaw Queen.**

**Next chapter will probably be a short conversation between Marian and Robin. The chapter after that will be the first meeting, I promise.**

**Again, thank you so much for your reviews, favourites, and follows!:)**


	3. Chapter 3

**And now I'm laughing at myself for saying this would be 'a short conversation', because I'm not even finished and it's over 3500 words. I decided to divide it, so here's the first part, I'll upload the second part (the much more emotional part so far yikes) tomorrow morning/early afternoon.**

**Before I got to the first meeting, I felt like I had to show how Robin deals with Marian's return, and how they catch up. Hence, this and the next chapter.**

_**I own nothing**_

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"Robin," she said with a smile as she reached across the table to hold his hand, "when did you become so quiet?"

Apparently, the excitement of seeing his mother again and trying to fill her in on all that she had missed in his life had the little boy with the dark curls all tuckered out, as he was snuggling into his mother's side with his eyes closing and reopening. His wife's question pulled him from his thoughts, and he forced a smile with his reply, "Well, my dear, with a son whose mouth goes a mile a minute at all hours of the day..."

Marian chuckled and brushed her fingers through Roland's hair with her free hand.

He watched her slight smile slowly turn into a frown as she gazed down at Roland.

"How long has it been since you last saw me, Robin?" she whispered, forehead wrinkling. She had only been on the run for four months when the Princess had rescued her from the Evil Queen's dungeon, but Roland seemed to have grown much more than he possibly could have in such a short span of time, and glancing around the diner at the strange new world she had suddenly found herself in, she couldn't exactly see how her boys could have found themselves there so soon after that. Marian was a clever woman, and she was also perceptive. It wasn't just Roland's growth that had made her wary enough to ask such a question. Once the initial feeling of absolute elation of seeing each other again for the first time had ebbed a little, she had sensed the slightest distance begin to grow between herself and Robin. She couldn't quite put her finger on the cause of that feeling, but she noticed that her husband's mind had wandered from their table in the strange tavern throughout their dinner together. His blue eyes appeared to stare right through her, and his smile almost seemed forced at times. He hadn't seemed aware that he had been tapping his fingers on the table in an almost impatient manner or how he had sharply glanced to his right whenever he saw a figure move past their table.

Her question slightly startled him, but then again, his Marian had always been incredibly perceptive. It had been one of her characteristics he had found most charming when he first began courting her behind the Sheriff's back.

"Technically...Marian, it's been over thirty years."

Her sharp intake of breath and widened eyes had him glancing down at the table at the coffee mug in his hand, not wanting to see the obvious pain such a revelation had caused.

"But...that's not possible! Roland's still a boy, you're still young!'

He sighed, aware of the fact that he would have to tell her everything, not sure if he was ready to do that.

He decided to plunge in, and began his tale.

"The Queen...cast a curse about two years after you die - disappeared," he corrected himself.

"The curse created this land. It brought all the people of the Enchanted Forest here, wiped their memories."

"The Evil Queen created this world?" Marian interjected, a mix of awe and disgust in her tone.

He had been recounting the events with a slight resignation, and at this point, he shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, it was the Queen."

Robin took a breath and continued.

"For 28 years, they lived in this town, until the curse was broken by the Saviour. Emma Swan? I believe she was the one who brought you here?"

Marian nodded, a troubled look gracing her lovely face as her eyebrows knitted together. "Princess Leia," she breathed. She saw his questioning look and said, "I'll tell you everything, but tell your story first."

He went on, "Emma broke the curse with True Love's Kiss, but she only broke the memory curse. She didn't take everyone back to the Enchanted Forest, she just restored their memories."

"The Queen's curse didn't bring the entire Enchanted Forest here. For a reason unbeknownst to us, a small portion of it was protected. I was in that small portion of the Forest, with my Merry Men and Roland, and a few hundred others. For 28 years, we remained frozen. In time and space. When the curse broke, we were restored, but we were still alone in the Enchanted Forest."

He paused for a brief moment. He hadn't known the full story until...until Regina had confided it to him in one of the rare moments when she hadn't been snappish and cold to him, back in the missing year that they had spent in the Enchanted Forest. She had gone out riding by herself, and he had followed at a distance, trying to keep hidden, until she had stopped her horse and called out, "I know you're there. There's no use hiding. Some thief you are..." They had walked their horses slowly through the forest, barely saying a word, until he had worked up the nerve to ask her about the curse she had cast, and how she had gotten everyone back to the Forest. She hadn't answered right away. He had expected a rebuff, and had desperately tried to think of something witty to say to slightly diffuse the situation, when he heard a soft sigh coming from the woman on the horse beside him. In almost a whisper, she recounted how casting the curse had required the heart of the thing she loved most. How she had been so blinded by her need for revenge that she had killed her own father. How unhappy she had actually been in Storybrooke, until she had adopted her son. The son who she had been forced to give up in order to take them all back to the Enchanted Forest to save everyone from the enactment of another curse, cast by Rumpelstiltskin's father. He remained quiet throughout her entire tale, staring at the trail ahead of them, only glancing at her when she paused to take a shuddering breath. It had been the first time she had given even an inch to him since the night they had broken into her castle together, and her story and the emotions she had tried to hide while telling it were still fresh in his head. He had wanted to hold her and comfort her even then, though he knew she would not have allowed it. They had found themselves back at her castle, eventually, and she had walked away from him without another word. He had stood there in the stable, watching her walk away, thinking what an enigma the Queen was. He remembered that he had been thinking to himself that she could not possibly be evil in any way. He couldn't comprehend the inexplicable pull that he felt towards the Queen, now a small dot in the distance entering the castle. He had stood there in a daze, lost in his thoughts.

The memory filled him with pain.

Looking at his wife seated in front of him, the woman he had said he would walk to the ends of the earth for, the woman to whom he had vowed to always love and cherish, he took a deep breath and continued.

"Alone, that is, until the Queen undid the curse, destroyed this town, and took everyone back to the forest. The Queen had to make a great sacrifice to undo the curse...she had to leave her son behind in this land, with Emma Swan.

"My Merry Men and I came across the Queen and Snow White in the Forest soon after they arrived. A Wicked Witch...the Queen's half-sister had taken over their castle. We joined forces to try to vanquish the Witch, and we tried for a year, but it became apparent that but the only way we could was if the Queen helped Snow White cast another curse. They believed the only way to vanquish her would be by returning to Storybrooke and searching for Emma Swan. Ms Swan is capable of wielding magic, you see...light magic, which would defeat the witch."

_"It's 'Your Majesty'"_

He let out an uneven breath.

Marian wore a look of confusion. Clearly, she was having a hard time processing the Queen's actions. She couldn't quite understand how or why the Evil Queen had changed so much that people would trust her. That her husband would work with her, even help her. Thinking the reason might reveal itself, she allowed her husband to continue.

"This time, the curse brought Roland and I here as well. There was a slight problem, however...we had no idea how we had arrived here. We had lost all of our memories from the past year. It was a strange few days...we couldn't remember the year, we didn't even know it had been a year until we ran across a very pregnant Snow White who explained to us the whole ordeal. Again, we joined forces to try and discover what had come to pass. People started to blame the Queen..."

"They had every right to, if they couldn't remember the past year!" Marian exclaimed.

Robin looked up at her. "Though many were quick to blame her, it soon became apparent that even if she had done it, it had not been done with malicious intent. She had no memories of the missing year, either. Her son, whose memories of her had disappeared when the first curse had been undone, didn't remember her. It tortured her...but eventually, she broke the curse. The memory curse, at least. With a true love's kiss on Henry's forehead.

"Despite our best efforts, the menace of the Wicked Witch grew. She planned on casting a curse that would send her to the past, where she was planning on making sure Regina was never born. She wanted her life, you see. She was jealous of her little sister. Their mother had given Zelena up, but had kept Regina.

"The Wicked Witch came so close to success. She actually managed to cast the curse. But, before she could pass through the time portal, Re- the Queen defeated her. With light magic.

"The Queen refused to kill her sister. She insisted that she be locked up instead, insisted that she get the second chance that she herself had been given by the town and Snow White. But Zelena killed herself, unleashing her magic and inadvertently opening the time portal anyway. Emma and Hook ventured too close...and well, here you are."

He smiled at her. He couldn't decide which emotion was stronger in him. The happiness that his Marian was there with him, or the_ angoisse_ that came with remembering all that Regina had been through in the past year, remembering how they had been flung together, how they had emerged from the trials together. How it seemed that as soon as their eyes had locked once he had gotten hold of her heart in that barn, she had gained the last bit of strength she needed to blast her sister with light magic.

He noted that Marian's mouth was agape, and he paused for a moment to give her a chance to process the information. She clearly had come from a time when everyone still saw Regina as the Evil Queen, hearing that such a person was capable of the light magic of True Love's Kiss must have come as a bit of a shock. He hadn't even gone into the full details; he had merely skimmed the surface of what had happened. Dredging up the details would only bring up more emotions, emotions he wasn't sure how to deal with at the moment, emotions he wasn't sure how to face. He felt so incredibly confused.

_Who would have thought an Evil Queen had a soft spot for children?_

Marian was indeed taken aback. The Evil Queen that Robin was describing could not possibly be the same woman who had paraded her in front of those frightened peasants, who had sentenced hundreds of innocents, including herself, to death, simply because of the fact that they had helped her stepdaughter escape her Black Knights.

She also didn't miss the fact that not once had her husband used the 'Evil' moniker in reference to the Queen. Of course, if she had done all he said she had, then it seemed that she had somehow cast aside her evil ways, and in that case she wouldn't be deserving of that title any more...but there was something else behind Robin's description as well.

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**Thank you for reading! I'll upload the second part as soon as possible.**

**Again, this is my first story, so any and all reviews are very much appreciated!:)**


	4. Chapter 4

**My Marian head-canon, pretty much. It may be slightly different than the show canon, but we don't really know, do we? Plus Robin's feels, haha. ****Not funny but whatever.**

**_I own nothing_**

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She shook her head in quiet disbelief. "The last time I saw the Evil Queen, she had me locked up in her dungeons. She was going to execute me. Pri- Emma saved me from that fate. She brought me through the time portal."

It was her husband's turn to be shocked this time.

"But...how could you have ended up in the Queen's dungeons? When we went on that mission in King Midas' castle, I thought you had been caught! I thought it had been my fault."

All of the guilt he had thought he had let go of resurfaced in him, and he grasped Marian's hand more tightly as he lost his composure. Tears sprang to his eyes, and his voice shook.

"I thought you had been turned into gold, or executed...I waited for weeks at the spot where we were supposed to meet if we had been parted. Six weeks, I waited! The Merry Men were getting anxious, I had been ignoring Roland, who was just a confused little 3 year old who missed his Mama, constantly asking when she would return from her 'venture. They saw what a state I was in, they tried to tell me that you were gone, that there was no way you would suddenly appear after such a long time, but I refused to leave. I believed you would come back to me. One day, at dawn, we heard a canon boom. The sign of an execution. We had heard nothing about an impending execution...we assumed..." his voice broke.

"We thought it was you," he whispered.

"I cursed myself for having let you wander alone in that castle for even a moment. I told myself I should have been more careful, at least I should have sent Little John with you, or gone with you myself... I should have been more aware of the present danger. But I was cocky. Terribly so. I thought nothing could touch me, the 'Prince of Thieves'! he let out a dry laugh, tears fighting to escape from the corners of his eyes. He had thought he had gotten over the guilt, the agony of not knowing, but having the woman he had thought he had lost sitting right in front of him made those feelings return full force.

"For months I tortured myself with what I could have done differently...but Roland had lost his mother, and he needed his father to be there for him. I had to pull myself out of the...abyss that I had sunk into. I accepted the fact that I would never see you again in this life. Roland became everything to me." With these last words, his gaze moved to the little boy with his dimples and Marian's hair, asleep in his mother's arms.

Her heart broke at his words, as she imagined the anguish that he must have felt. She stroked the hand she had been holding with her thumb, trying to comfort her husband.

"I'm so sorry," she exhaled. "I was captured by King Midas, but he let me go after a few days. I wanted so badly to find you, but he had his guards follow me...I couldn't risk leading them back to you! Your face was on 'Wanted' posters everywhere, and I knew he would hand you over to the Evil Queen if he found you."

He lifted his head to look at her and said simply, "That's a risk I would have been willing to take, if it meant having our family together. We would have found a way to evade his guards. We always had."

Her breath hitched, and the emotions she could read in his eyes forced her to drop her gaze to their joined hands.

"I wandered aimlessly around the forest until I was finally able to get the guards off my trail," she continued shakily, "I started to look for you. But very shortly afterwards, I ran into another bandit on the run. Snow White. We hid together in a small abandoned cabin in the woods, but one night, we were ambushed by the Evil Queen's Black Knights. I worked to create enough of a diversion so that the princess could escape, but I was captured in the process. I didn't know where Snow had escaped to, and I wouldn't have told them even if I had known. I was sentenced to die, told I would be given 3 more days to confess before I would be beheaded." Tears came to her own eyes as she recalled how much she had cried that first night in the dungeon, mourning the loss of her family. She had cried for not being able to see her son grow into a man as good and noble as his father, for not having the opportunity to grow old with the love of her life...for everything she had lost the second she had wandered off to sneak a quick look at the library in King Midas' castle.

"On the morning of the third day - this morning, really - the guards came for me. I thought the Evil Queen had decided to execute those in the dungeons earlier than planned...I was terrified. A burlap sack was placed over my head, and I was dragged outside. I could feel the sunshine...I thought it would be the last time I would, ever. In the distance I could hear a woman barking orders, preparing a trip. She was answered with a 'Right away, Your Majesty.'

"I realized it was the Evil Queen, but I didn't know what she would possibly want with me. From what I heard, she never made any contact with her prisoners, preferring to work her evil through he Black Knights instead. How cowardly!" she growled.

Robin's head jerked up at this. No, he thought. Never cowardly. Not after what he had seen. She was braver than any man he had seen. Yet he could not fully draw a connection to the Regina he knew, the Regina he had held in his arms only a few hours ago, and the monster of a woman Marian was describing. The monster Marian believed her to be.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Marian's next words.

"I was thrown onto the back of a carriage. When we finally stopped, I was dragged in front of a crowd of peasants as an example," she spat out.

"I screamed at them to help me, but they were all too frightened of the Evil Queen," she finished with a sneer.

"She just laughed at my cries. Once the Evil Queen was finished with her sadistic little parade, I was taken back to the dungeons and told I would be executed the next day for the treason of helping Snow White. Emma was thrown into the dungeon next to me for the same crime, and she helped me escape." Her fury at the inaction of the peasants melted as she smiled at the rememberance. "She acted selflessly and truly, as the Saviour you have said she is."

She briefly summarised how she had spent her last few hours, and how she had awoken in this new world against her will.

"But if I had known you were also in this world, in this time, I would have begged them to take me, no matter the cost."

She smiled sweetly at him, but he could barely return the smile.

His mind was still trying to grasp the image of Regina that Marian had painted. Robin felt like he had a million little worms eating away at his stomach. He believed what Marian said to be true, but Regina! That wasn't the woman he had gotten to know in the past year. Yes, she could be snarky and act as if she had a heart of ice, but then there was also a softer side to her, a vulnerable side that she rarely exposed, but which he knew was there. He had seen it, that night when she had attempted to put herself under a sleeping curse, and he had seen it just a few hours earlier when she had almost cried in front of him because she had never thought she would be loved again. She had most certainly been this 'great and terrible Evil Queen'...but there was also this great and terrible beauty to her, one that diminished any aspect of darkness that there ever could have been in her. One that he saw her in her boldness, in her ability to call things for what they were, one that he saw when she had exposed her fears to him, when she had trusted him with her heart, when her only question had been if there had been any casualties when the Dark One had stolen her heart from him. He saw it in her tender affection for her son, the affection she had even shown for his son; he had seen it in the look in her eyes when she opened them and looked into his just seconds after their lips parted. He had seen it when she confronted Rumpel and commanded him not to lay a finger on her sister. He had always been fully aware of the countless executions she had ordered, the numerous mass murders she had commanded, but the Queen she had been when they first met had no longer been worthy of the 'evil' moniker. He had told her as much, and though she never let it show, he suspected that such a proclamation meant a very great deal to her. She had changed, fully and completely. The Queen Marian had dealt with just that day, in her experience at least, had ceased to exist long ago. Regina had used light magic, for pete's sake! He had seen it with his very eyes. No one who could possibly have even an ounce of evil or malice left in her could have accomplished such a feat.

He could feel Marian's gaze piercing him, staring right into his soul as only she had ever seemed to know how. He knew he had to respond somehow, but he just couldn't form the words.

Marian spoke for him, softly and slowly.

"I was quite startled to see her walk into this tavern, without any reaction from the others in here. Even if she has changed, as you've said, it's hard to forget that that woman tried to kill me just this morning. At least in my time."

She surveyed the room, smiling when she came across familiar faces amidst the few stragglers. The royal couple had long since left to put their son to sleep, and the tavern had emptied out slowly after. The one she was looking for was nowhere in sight.

"Emma was going to introduce me to her, but then I saw you...We've been sitting here catching up for so long, she must have already left. But you've gotten to know her, right? You can introduce me to her? I'll be much more relaxed if I have you by my side, and then I can see for myself how much she has changed. It seems almost like a miracle that a woman like that _could_ change."

_No,_ he thought. _No._

Robin felt his chest tighten with an even deeper anxiety than what he had felt when he had contemplated what he would say to Regina. He had to tell his wife now. He couldn't lie to her.

Out loud, he said, "I'm not sure that's the best idea, Marian. There's something I must tell you."

Her face clouded with concern, and she felt nervous to find out what he was about to reveal. She knew there had been something about his distance during dinner, and then the way he had described the Evil Queen to her...call it a woman's intuition, but her gut told her that something had gone on between her husband and the Evil Queen. She could feel her heart sink with dread. He had told her she had been gone for _thirty years._ He had confessed that he had tried to move on...had he? With the Queen? Tales of the Evil Queen's beauty had been almost as popular as those of her evil deeds. Marian had seen her beauty up close. Was it just...physical? She shuddered at the thought. But, no. She knew her husband. He wouldn't have taken up a dalliance with the Evil Queen on a purely physical basis. It had to be deeper.

"Marian," he began, softly but firmly, "you were gone a long time. I thought you were dead. I grieved over you for a very, very long time. I told you this already, but I didn't tell you all. I -"

His voice cracked as he gazed at his wife, whose eyes pleaded with him not tell her what she had already surmised. He steeled himself for what he had to tell her next.

"I allowed myself to let go of you, slowly. I thought there was no point endlessly despairing over you if you were dead, I had to move on for Roland's sake, and for my own. Regina and I, the Queen and I, we developed an understanding in the Enchanted Forest over the past year." He spoke slowly, his heart fighting with his sense of honour with every word.

"We've been courting each other for the past few days. But I can see that it has to end."

Marian breathed an audible sigh of relief. She hadn't noticed she had been holding her breath. He could barely look at her, even as he grasped her hand in both of his.

His honour was winning.

"But Marian, you're back now. You're alive, and you're the love of my life, and we have a chance to be a happy family again, to give Roland a complete home, a home that he deserves. You have to understand, though. I must go speak to Regina, and I have to do it on my own. I have to explain to her what you mean to me, and what our family means to me. I've always loved you, Marian, and I always will. In fact, I never stopped."

Marian nodded. "I love you, too," she breathed, tears sliding down her cheeks. Her Robin. Her loving, ever honourable Robin. She began to regain the hope that she had lost while she had been trapped in the Queen's dungeon. She would watch her son grow into a man as brave and honourable as his father, she would grow old with her husband. With the two of them by her side, she knew she could face any challenge this new world presented.

Robin slowly stood. "Let's go home," he whispered to his wife.

As they walked out of the diner, Roland still asleep in Marian's arms, Marian murmured, "The Queen must be a spectacular woman, if a man like you was capable of seeing past all of her evil deeds to care for her so deeply. I'll have to meet her eventually."

Robin was sure he had never felt so conflicted over acting honourably in his entire life.

* * *

**_Author's Note:_**** For some reason Katy Perry's "Unconditionally" started playing in my head as I was editing this...**

**So. Next chapter will take longer to update, because FEELS and life. It'll have LOTS AND LOTS of Regina in it, and definitely will feature an interaction between our beloved Queen and her thief.**

**I'm taking this chapter by chapter, so I don't really have a clear outline as to where I want this to go...the only thing I know for sure is that Outlaw Queen is endgame.**

**Thank you again for reading and reviewing and following and everything! (It's at 106 follows right now what even. I did not even expect 5. THANK YOU.)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I should stop promising what's going to happen in the next chapter because suddenly inspiration hits, and my plan changes.**

**Enjoy, and thank you for reading!**

**_I own nothing._  
**

* * *

Regina awoke slowly. Her eyes still closed, she emitted a small moan as she slightly shifted under her covers. For a few brief moments, she was in the state between waking and sleeping when all cares and burdens are forgotten, when the only emotion really felt is the bliss of being comfortable and warm.

And then the memory of the previous night came crashing down on her, accompanied by the emotions they had elicited.

The growing affection for the giggling five year old as he eagerly grabbed for an ice cream cone she offered, and then grasped her hand as he tried to pull her out of the shop.

The captivation for his papa, who wore a look of enchantment as he pulled her in for a deep kiss. A kiss into which he poured everything he had been feeling that day, feelings that she had felt, too. Hope, for a life together, and more nights like that, spent with their sons, as a family. Trust, that their hearts were safe in the hands of those who would do them no harm. Faith, that no matter what tomorrow would bring, they would always stand by each other as they had in the confrontation with Zelena. Passion, that they cared deeply for each other and would express it in all the ways they knew how. Exhiliration, that they could be so cherished by another. Wonder, that it was possible that they could even have each other at all.

The brief insecurity that she wouldn't be able to prove herself worthy of the title of 'good' to this person that Emma had brought back from the past.

The complete and utter dismay when the scene in front of her imparted the identity of the woman.

Pain, that she had lost everything and had her heart broken in the blink of an eye.

Anger at Emma Swan, for never thinking of consequences.

Hopelessness, as she had fled.

Loneliness, that there was no one to comfort her.

Despair, for a future without her heart.

Weariness, for never being able to catch a break.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to go back to the state of forgetting, but it was as useless as trying to will a shattered vase back together again.

Well, actually, she thought sourly as she opened her eyes, that she could probably fix with her magic.

This, she couldn't.

She shifted from her side onto her back, but the movement was accompanied by an unexpected hammering in her head. What was it about crying that gave a person such a horrible headache after the fact?

Wincing, she glanced at the clock on the wall opposite her bed. Outside, sky was still blanketed in black, but as her eyes adapted to the darkness, she could make out that it was a little past 3am.

So she had even been deprived of a peaceful sleep.

Powerless, loveless, hopeless, and apparently, sleepless.

Groaning, she lifted a hand to rub her temple and then flung it back down onto the covers.

Being able to feel so deeply was an absolute curse.

She snuggled deeper into her covers and resolved to go downstairs and make herself a cup of camomile tea. Perhaps that would help soothe both her headache and the space in her chest where her heart was meant to be.

Right. She would get up and go do that. As soon as she felt sure that she wouldn't crumple to the ground with the pain of both her heart and head when she stood up.

_"Maybe it's all about timing."_

Ach. She needed to busy her hands to get her mind away from him.

Trying to scatter her thoughts, she gathered her strength to roll out of bed and trudge down the stairs to the kitchen.

She let out a soft whimper as the pounding in her head intensified with her movements.

Reaching the kitchen, she put water to boil over the stove and walked to the other end of the room, leaning on the island like a cane as she went to grab the Twinings from the cabinet.

As she turned around, a movement from the door to her left drew her eye. She gasped, and the Twinings box fell from her hand.

Robin.

He smiled guiltily at her when he noticed how he had startled her, biting his lip and rubbing his jaw as he looked up at her from under his eyelashes.

A million different questions, each only half formed, raced through her mind. Gripping the counter behind her, the only word that escaped her mouth was, "Why?" She chose that over the 'how?' because it was clear he had used his skills of a thief to break into her home. That would have been a waste of breath.

He didn't respond right away. Instead, he moved towards the island and placed his hands on it.

She was glad the island was between them, because she wasn't sure if she would have been able to resist reaching out for him in any way.

He grabbed an apple from the bowl and rubbed a finger over a speck on it.

"Why am I here, why did I not come after you as soon as you magicked yourself out of that diner, or why did I decide to show up at your house at 3am?"

She felt a slight pang at his blithe tone. Regina wished she could bring her walls back up, put them sky high and give him attitude like she had in the Enchanted Forest, but he had broken through all of her defenses, and she couldn't imagine trying to, or even being able to, lift the first brick to begin reconstructing them.

For others, yes. But never for him.

Mouth agape, she shook her head slightly to the left and stammered, "All three?"

He set the apple down on the counter and looked at her with a gaze so intense, a small smile so genuine, she only realized she had stopped breathing the moment their eyes met when he began to speak.

"Judging by your quick disappearance, I gathered that you...thought that things were over between us with the return of my supposed-to-be-dead wife. Over before we had even really had a chance to get things going between us."

Regina listened, wishing he wouldn't speak so slowly, hoping he was saying what she thought he was, incredulous that he could be.

"It's been about thirty years since the last time I had seen Marian. Marian and I left the diner with Roland, and for the past six hours, we've been talking about the last years, about Roland..." he paused.

"About you."

Her grip on the counter tightened. Emma had said Marian still thought of her as evil. She hoped Robin had tried to dispel that image, explain that she had saved their son's life, that she had saved all of them, in fact.

It felt like his eyes were piercing right into her soul.

"I told her about us. I told her that I love you."

She let out a sob. She prayed that he was explaining his presence by saying that he was choosing her, that yes, his wife was alive, but that true love could overcome everything and he had remembered what she had said about his tattoo and he had picked her. She was glued to her spot. She didn't dare reach out to him, just in case the fragile glass of her new hopes would be shattered again.

She couldn't fathom that he would ever pick her. She made a small attempt at a quip to try to disguise her hope. "And did she sentence you to two months of sleeping outside of the tent you two will share for daring to care for the Evil Queen?"

He smiled and shook his head. "No."

"So, your Marian forgives easily, does she?"

He chuckled, "No. She can be almost as stubborn as you. And you're no longer the Evil Queen."

She gulped, faltering in her badgering of him.

"I told her that I had loved her," he continued, "but that I'd had to move on after I'd thought she'd died. I told her about Tinkerbell and my tattoo. She is a stronger believer in prophecies, Marian is. She was upset...but she told me to be happy. That's all she wants. I told her you make me happier than I have been in a long time."

Regina could feel tears sliding down her cheeks, but unlike those from just a few hours earlier, these were tears of joy. The glass of her hopes turned to ivory.

She had to make sure.

"Robin, think of what you're giving up." The tears turned to ones of pain once again. "A real family for Roland, with his mother and father together; being reunited with your wife, who you admitted you would have walked through hell for..."

He smiled and walked around the island towards her, maintaining eye contact as the distance between them diminished, so much like he had done when they had met for the first time in Storybrooke in Zelena's farm house. The same hope, the same feeling of connection, the same anticipation was present. But this time, instead of reaching past her, he grasped her hips and leaned his head down until his face was inches from hers.

"Being with Marian means nothing; Regina, all I care about is you," he whispered, gazing into her eyes, before pressing a soft, tender kiss to her lips. He drew back slightly to look at her, but she grabbed his neck to pull him back in for a passionate kiss, into which she poured all of her rekindled hopes, her love for him, her thanks that he chose her. As he reciprocated the kiss, Regina could feel the salt of her tears, joyful once again, on their joined lips. She began to move her arm to his back, and he -

Regina's eyes flew open.

She wasn't in her kitchen. She had never made it downstairs to make a cup of tea; she had drifted back to sleep before she'd actually gathered the strength to roll out of bed. In her arms, she was grasping a pillow, not -

A loud, heartwrenching sob escaped her lips as she moved to hug the pillow to her more tightly and curled into a fetal position, the happiness of her dream replaced by the hopelessness of her actual situation.

He would never pick her first.

* * *

Robin couldn't sleep.

Lying in his tent in the forest, with Marian's arm draped over his waist and Roland curled up between them, he could only think of one thing.

The crest ornamenting the wrist that was resting on his chest.

The lion tattoo.

The lion that he had tattooed when he had been a teenager, the crest of the lord that he had been completely devoted to. Richard the Lionheart, they had called him. But he had been killed by his brother, John, a miser of a noble who let his peasants starve. Robin had led a rebellion against him, and plundered his castle to give food to the poor. For such a betrayal, John had declared him an outlaw, and from there on out, Robin had been living a life on the run, stealing from the rich to feed the poor.

His mind travelled through time as his eyes rested on his tattoo, from his youth to that very afternoon.

_"I never saw his face. But I did see his tattoo."_

A shiver ran through his body as the skin of his wrist recalled the touch of the fingertips that had run over it for the briefest of moments.

_"...a man she said I was destined to be with."_

The feeling of confusion that had begun that evening escalated to the point of a physical manifestation. He couldn't lie still anymore. He needed a walk to clear his mind.

After carefully removing Marian's arm from his abdomen, and placing a quick kiss on Roland's forehead, he left his tent and felt the rush of the cool night air in the forest. It seemed much colder than it had been than when they had walked to the diner, and there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. Through the cover of the trees, he could see stars shining like little pinpricks in a blanket of black as he looked up. The isolation of the forest had always been where he had felt most calm, but now, for some reason, his feet began to carry him towards town.

He couldn't stop his mind from repeating questions over and over again.

What did destiny mean? Had Emma and Hook somehow altered the past to such a degree that the prophecy had been affected, too? What role was Regina supposed to play in his life, now that Marian was back with, lying in the tent he had just walked away from, cuddling his son?

_"I make my own destiny."_

As he stared at the sidewalk while he walked, he noted a familiar hedge to his right. He stopped in his tracks. He had walked to Regina's house? He hadn't meant to...he had wanted to wait until morning came to go speak to her. But perhaps, perhaps, speaking to her would help alleviate even the slightest bit of confusion and guilt he was feeling.

He hesitated.

He knew that it was 3:30 in the morning. He knew she would probably be asleep. He had no idea how she would react to seeing him.

His breath came out in small clouds as he deliberated where his next steps would take him. Something within him screamed that he should go to Regina. That the longer he waited, the more he would regret it.

Bracing himself for whatever would come next, he made his way up the path to her front door.

* * *

**AN: I don't know about you, but that thing that happens when you tell yourself to do something but you just don't want to get out of bed and then you fall asleep again and dream that you had done what you had wanted to do, only to wake up a few minutes later and realize you had fallen back to sleep and hadn't actually done it, HAPPENS TO ME ALL THE TIME.**

**So, inspiration hit.**

**Points to whomever catches the Stable Queen reference. ;)**

**Updates will take longer, because I need to think of where I want this to go and how I want it to happen.**

**To Amandla123, who was wondering if I would bring in Elsa, I'm going to give a very tentative no. I was thinking this story would be more about the emotional journey, and as this is my first story, I don't want to overcomplicate things for myself! Haha.**

**Reviews and suggestions are very much welcome and greatly appreciated. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here, have some Regina feels.**

_**I own nothing.**_

* * *

She loved him.

She loved him, she loved him, she loved him.

She let out another sob into the pillow she was squeezing to her chest, as though without its light weight in her arms she would just float away.

Regina tried to suppress the memories that were returning to the forefront of her mind, tried to lock them away in that part of her mind that she had just constructed earlier that night, but it was no use. She had tried to cage away all of her memories of Robin, but the walls were not strong enough yet. They were too weak. She was too weak.

She recalled the day that she had first noticed his tattoo. The lion tattoo. No, the day she had seen it in Storybrooke had not been the first time she had laid eyes on it since the night she had run from the tavern in the first year of her marriage to the king. She had noticed it when she had given him the gold-tipped arrows. Instead of calling him to her chambers, she had preferred to present him with the gift privately, away from the prying eyes of Snow White and the others. She'd found him one evening in his chambers, tucking Roland in for the night, and his loose sleeves had been pushed up to his elbows as he answered her knock on his door. She had seen it as he had smiled apprehensively and run a hand through his hair in his surprise at seeing the Queen at his door. There, on his right forearm, in black ink; this time not lighted by green pixie dust. She had intended on showing him her gratitude for keeping her attempt of putting herself under a sleeping curse a secret, but the moment her gaze was distracted by the inky lion, she had frozen completely. Her 'Evil Queen' mask fell over her features immediately. The smile had disappeared from her eyes, and her mouth had moved into its habitual smirk.

She had been struck by terror. Terror that her soulmate had suddenly appeared after so many years, terror that he wouldn't even be able to consider having any feelings for her other than wary respect, or even worse, contempt.

Even if he had kept her secret, she could not imagine that he would have wanted anything to do with her. Not romantically. Not after how cautious he had been around her when they had broken into her castle. How he had drawn his bow at her, convinced that she had hidden an evil intention behind her promise to bring down the shield. How he had almost seemed to be walking on eggshells around her, scared that at any moment she would snap and throw a fireball at him as the Evil Queen would have done.

She didn't think she was that person anymore. But she got the impression that he was uncertain of the extent to which she had changed.

So her guard had shot straight up, and she had practically thrust the arrows into his arm with a snappy remark. Before he could reply or offer his own thanks, she had retreated back down the hall to her own chambers, feeling his eyes on her back as she stalked away.

She had made sure to be cold towards him, but one day, when she had been weary from trying to find a way to defeat her sister, she had noticed him following her as she rode through the forest. As they rode back to her castle together, she had let down her guard and had opened up to him as she hadn't to anyone but Archie. She had told him everything. She figured he would learn the truth from someone if not her, and if he really still could be her soulmate, she thought he deserved to know it coming from her own lips. He hadn't spoken or questioned her, he had just listened. She didn't attempt to gage his reaction to her tale, and when they reached the castle she left him without even a glance in his direction.

Later that week, however, she had turned a corner only to see him walking down the corridor, coming towards her, a bow slung over his shoulder. She had maintained her pace, and as they got closer, their eyes had meet in a heated glance. Neither had said a word, neither had nodded to acknowledge the other; it was as though they were both too startled by the other's sudden appearance to muster a proper reaction other than a stare. They had simply maintained eye contact until they had walked directly past each other, breaking their shared gaze only because they were no longer in each other's peripheral vision. Regina could remember the way her blood had felt like it was fire coursing through her veins, how her palms had become clammy, how her throat had seemed to close up and her mouth muscles refused to move in order to break the silence with a sassy comment. She hadn't been able to read the intensity behind the expression in his eyes; the only part of it she had made sense of was the look of curiosity with which he regarded her. But there was something else, as well...

The memory dissolved only to be replaced by another.

Standing in her castle with Charming lying on the ground, dead. Snow pleading with her to tear out her heart and divide it in two. Averting her eyes to give them a moment of privacy. What had she been thinking while she watched the magic of true love save a life?

She had been thinking that that was what she yearned for. She yearned for a love that would help fill the void in her heart. Without Henry, the void would never be completely filled, but she imagined that if there ever was a man who loved her and whom she loved as much as Snow and Charming loved each other, the pain of losing Henry would have been bearable. Perhaps her heart wouldn't still have pleaded for vengeance; perhaps the door in the forest would have shown her the Witch of the South; perhaps she would have been at least content.

As she gazed out the open archway, past the balcony, and over the forest that they ruled, her countenance became one full of regret and longing. If she had been kinder to Robin, if she had sought him out to speak to him and get to know him as she had so yearned to do, would he have been standing there with her now, holding her hand or even embracing her as they watched the curse roll out into the land, clinging to her, terrified that he would forget her and their relationship because of Zelena's sabotage?

She let out another heaving sob as she realized the futility of what she had longed for that day.

Even if she had let him in, let him past her "not-evil-but-not-good-yet-either Queen" facade and let him see "Regina", it all would have led to the same place.

Her, standing in that diner alone, watching helplessly as he was reunited with his wife.

In Storybrooke, the first time they had met, he had managed to see right through her "Evil Queen" persona. He had glimpsed "Regina" that day. It was what he had said to her that had convinced her to be open with him and let down her guard. He was one of the only few people in Storybrooke who had seemed to trust her, and who didn't seem to still feel terrorized by her. Acceptance had been what she craved, and he had given it to her.

And yet it hadn't mattered.

She had let him in, let him see her vulnerable side, let him see her ache for her son, let him see her in tears, let him hold her, let him brush his fingers through her hair, let him kiss her, let him drape his arms around her, let him stand by her and be her backup in a fight. She had done the same for him.

She had opened up her heart to love, she had let go of her anger and her pain and her need for revenge.

It had all been for nothing.

No matter how she had acted towards him in the Enchanted Forest, no matter how she had allowed herself to care for him in Storybrooke, it would have all led to that night anyway.

The return of his wife.

It would have been better to have never found love again at all than to have it ripped away from her in such a blunt manner.

She couldn't help but wonder again if Marian had been in his life when she had run away from the tavern that Tinkerbell had led her to. Had she gone in...would she have been happy, now, with him? Would they have had a family, with a little boy or girl or both with a mischevious side inherited from both parents, his dimples, and her hair? Children that she could call her own? Would they still be in the Enchanted Forest, having little, but content as long as they had a home that only a happy family could provide?

She tried to think of something else, but her imagination betrayed her.

She could see it.

A small cottage tucked deep into the woods. Robin standing outside with two little dark-haired children, a boy and a girl, teaching them how to nock an arrow with his big bow as they copied his gestures with their smaller ones. She could see herself riding up to them, astride a horse, returning from a trip to town to buy supplies for her family. Unsolicited joy on the three dimpled faces as they caught sight of her. Laughter and hugs and kisses as she showed them what she had returned with.

What she would never have, because she had been stupid enough to stand in her own way.

Even without her heart, the pain was still unbearable.

No use dwelling on what might have been.

She tried to control her violent sobs, and slowly, her breathing began to even out. She released the pillow slightly, only to be distracted by a knock on her door. She stiffened instantly.

Was it Emma, looking for forgiveness for only doing what was right? She couldn't imagine Emma coming to apologize at 3:30am.

Was it Henry? It couldn't be. He wouldn't be up so late.

The Charmings would be too busy with their newborn...

She could only think of one other person who would dare knock on her door at 3:30am. The only person who would have any cause to do so.

Sitting up in bed, she stared out her window, a few tears still trickling down her cheeks. Her teeth gnawed at her inner cheek as she wondered if it was him, and if it was, why he would have come at such a time. Had he come to apologize, to be honourable and tell her that everything had to end between them now that his wife was back? Or had he come to assure her of the strength of his feelings for her...?

As much as she tried to push it down, she couldn't stop the infinitesimal feeling of hope that had stirred in her at the sound of the knock. She hated herself for it.

Another knock had her running for her bathroom, checking her hair and making sure there were no black tracks down her cheeks from her makeup. She brushed away the wetness, and noted that her eyes were puffy and red, but there was nothing she could do to alleviate it. Magic wouldn't help.

Another, more insistant knock sounded as she made her way down the stairs slowly, unease filling her at what she would find when she opened the door. Whether it would lead to elation as it had in her dream or just reaffirm the despair that had settled over her. The latter seemed more in line with reality.

She opened the door and her breath hitched.

He had been standing with his back to the door, but as soon he heard the sound of the door opening he had whirled around to face her.

If her heart had been in her chest, she was sure that she would have felt it mend at the sight of him, only to fall apart again at the expression on his face.

Sadness and pain, which mirrored her own, but also, guilt.

His face fell even further at the sight of her. He didn't greet her with the usual kiss that had become a habit over the past few days. He seeemed to be unable to speak, closing and reopening his mouth as he looked her straight in the eyes.

She moved out of the doorway in a gesture for him to enter. He did.

As she led him to her dining room, she steeled herself for the final nail in the coffin of her hopes.

* * *

He had knocked three times. In his anxious state, he turned his back to the door and ran a hand through his hair, brainstorming possible ways to get into her home if she did not answer.

When he heard the door open, he spun around and felt paralyzed at the sight of her. Still wearing the dress she had worn the day before, hair in a slight disarray, and a cold, sad expression on her face that seemed to try to defy him to remark on the puffiness of her eyes.

He tried to think of something to say, but as he saw a flicker of despair wash over her face as she moved out of the doorway to let him in, he was sure that his expression had already hinted to her what he had come to say.

* * *

**I hope you liked it! Thank you for reading.**

**Any mistakes are my own, sorry.**

**Reviews are my favourite things in the world. ;)**


	7. Chapter 7

**99% of this is Regina's POV.**

**I own nothing.**

* * *

Once in the dining room, Regina stood behind her usual chair, one arm hugging her abdomen and the other's elbow resting on her hand. With a small flick of her wrist, she gestured for Robin to take a seat. He pulled out the chair on her right, and lowered himself slowly into the chair, facing her. He leaned forward as he rested his elbows on his thighs, hands clasped together before him, one of his thumbs stroking the other in an attempt to calm himself as he looked at the carpet laid over her parqueted floor.

Regina remained standing, watching him. She hadn't turned the light on in the dining room, instead allowing the light from the hall to illuminate them both. Through the low light, she noted that he hadn't taken off his jacket when he had come in, and the sleeves were covering his tattoo.

"It's not your fault," she finally exhaled, her voice hoarse. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to continue, but stopped when she saw that his thumb had started to make a sharp pounding motion rather than a stroking one.

"It isn't fair," he whispered.

She barked a laugh. Since when had life ever been fair for her? Born to a psychotic, power-hungry mother who'd killed her first love. Forced to be the queen of a king who couldn't get over his dead wife, forced to play the role of a "mommy" to an insipid child barely younger than herself. Manipulated by the Dark One so that she would become so broken that her only focus would be revenge. Rejected by children, forced to give up her own son to save all who still doubted her transformation. Hated by the only blood relative she had left in the world. And now, destined to be alone for the rest of her life because "heroes" just couldn't act any other way but honourably.

She had been gazing at the candelabra on the side table with a pained sneer on her face as she reminisced about the tribulations of her past. Tears threatened to spill over again, and she was sure Robin was noting the glassiness of her eyes when she turned to him to see that he had finally lifted his gaze from the floor to look at her.

"Villains don't get happy endings," she said, raising her eyebrows in a manner of explanation.

He began to shake his head and opened his mouth to protest, but was silenced by her next words.

"You may be an outlaw, but you have honour," she conceded, "You're a hero." The words came out in a rush in an attempt to not let even a second of silence allow him to speak. It hurt enough without him adding to the pain by objecting. "The love of your life has returned, and your family is complete once more. That is your happy ending. Take it, and forget about the Heartless Queen."

_There_, she thought, as she turned her back on him, signalling for him to leave her, did being selfless earn her any "hero" points? Internally, she laughed sardonically. It probably didn't even begin to make up for having acted so terribly as the Evil Queen. Maybe she hadn't completed her penance yet.

His voice broke the silence.

"Regina - the past year has shown me that you are anything but 'heartless'. Even without your heart, I've seen that you are capable of feeling. Capable of love and of mercy. You are deserving of a happy ending, but -" his voice caught.

She didn't move.

Taking a shaky breath, he spoke once more in a hushed tone, "I'm sorry that I am no longer the one that can provide it for you."

Her back still to him, the tears that had threatened to fall earlier now erupted from her eyes. She tried to keep her back as still as she possibly could as silent sobs forced themselves out. She didn't want him to notice her reaction to the words she had known would come.

"Regina, I've come to care for you deeply over the past year. Marian's return hasn't changed my feelings for you, but I do love Marian. I thought I had been able to let her go, but when she suddenly appeared in front of me, my feelings came back. We'd never had any real closure, you see. Even if I didn't feel this way...I would owe it to her and to my vows to pick up where we left off."

A hardness settled over her even as tears continued to fall down her cheeks.

"S'okay," She sniffled. "I might have done the same if it was Daniel who'd returned."

It was a lie. She would have, two years ago, but in the two years since Daniel had been resurrected for the briefest of moment, she had let go, and opened herself up to love as he had asked her to do. But there was a child involved in Robin's case, and that complicated matters.

"Leopold..." she closed her eyes as she remembered the unhappy farce that was her marriage. "Leopold never got over the love he had for his first wife. No matter how hard I tried to be like her in the first few years, to show him affection even as I was repulsed by him, he never reciprocated." She didn't turn to look at him as she spoke, but kept her arms wrapped around her middle. "He was gentle, yes, but he was always distant. He never treated me as a wife, but as a lodger who happened to be entitled to the rights and privileges of being his Queen. You and I might have been happy at first, but I don't think I would be able to stand it if that same yearning for your Marian resurfaced somewhere down the road. I'd rather it end now than be tormented by it down the road. If you love her, go to her, and let me be."

Her eyes prickled with tears once again at the remembrance of how inadequate and spurned Leopold had made her feel. She would not let anyone make her feel that way again. It had nearly destroyed her the first time, it had been what had made her focus on her revenge on Snow White above all else.

She heard him sigh, and was startled by his next words.

"Nonetheless, I have been unable to forget what you said about my tattoo."

_Damn that Tinkerbell,_ she thought.

"I don't know- Regina, you must understand how perplexed the situation has made me. I care for you, Regina, I do; when you told me about our destiny, everything that had happened and everything that I had been feeling started to make sense and I'd started to imagine spending the rest of my life with you until - "

She finally whirled around to face him, him voicing the hopes she'd had for their future too much to bear, tears streaking down her cheeks as she interrupted him with a cry of "Don't!" It came out sounding harsher than she had planned. Noting the hurt and alarm on his face, and seeing tears of his own in his eyes, she tried to soften her features and her voice. "Don't make this more difficult than it already is."

"The prophecy means nothing." She stood straighter as she spoke, her arms coming to rest at her sides, her gaze never leaving his. She tried not to come off as wounded as she really felt, but she knew it was no use. He had always been able to see past her masks, into her soul.

"Tinkerbell led me to that tavern in the first year of my marriage to Leopold. Before I was all-consumed by my need for revenge, before I became the Evil Queen, perhaps before you had even a chance to meet Marian. That was where our story was supposed to start, but in my fear, I ruined the chance that I had with you. You created a different happy ending with Marian, and I was deluded in thinking that my happy ending would come in killing Snow White. My actions changed everything. I became a villain, and like I said, villains don't get happy endings. Marian's return proves it. You and I aren't meant to be together, not as long as she is in the picture."

She took a deep breath, shaking as her lungs took in the air. She felt like she would never be done with paying for her mistakes. She turned her back on him once more, crossing her arms, refusing another glance at the sad light blue eyes which stared up at her.

"Years later, Tinkerbell told me that not approaching you had been a selfish thing to do, but whenever I had looked back at that night before that, I thought I had spared the man with the lion tattoo from any hurt or suffering that loving me would have invariably caused. She said that I had ruined both my life and yours. I could see how I had ruined mine, but I didn't understand how I could have possibly ruined yours. Now, I do."

She had made it through the first few sentences maintaining a steady voice, but at her last three words her voice cracked and she started to cry again.

She tried to speak through her tears. "If I had given you a chance, if I had been open to love, we could have had a wonderful life together. Instead, you were put through the inexplicable pain of losing a woman you loved, the mother of your child, blaming yourself for her loss. If I'd been braver, you might never have had to suffer through that."

She broke off with a choked sob.

What felt like an eternity later, she heard feet shuffling on the carpet. She figured that he was leaving and started to cry harder at the thought, until she felt a gentle hand on her arm forcing her to turn around. He wrapped his arms around her, and of their own accord, her arms let go of themselves to embrace him, bringing their bodies closer together. She wept into his shoulder as he held her. Being in his arms just felt _so right. _One of his hands ran up her back to rest in her hair. Feeling his heart beat against her empty chest soon calmed her sobs, and now only quiet tears left her eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered gruffly.

"You have nothing to apologize for. I ruined it all for the both of us. At least your happy ending has been miraculously fixed. In a twisted way...let me leave you with that gift."

She pulled away to look into his eyes, which were now only inches from her own, pleading with him.

"Be happy, for me. Love her, cherish her, have a few more dimpled children to grow the ranks of your Merry Men. Even if it isn't with me, seeing you happy will be my consolation. Robin, I- I love you, and loving someone means letting them go, letting them be happy without you. Henry taught me that. Go." She gave him a gentle shove, but his hold on her only tightened for the briefest of moments as she felt his lips press against her forehead. She closed her eyes at the touch, capturing the feeling in her memory.

"I will," he promised,lips moving against her forehead, "if you do one thing for me. Don't ever doubt yourself. Don't ever doubt that you are capable of being good, and don't ever doubt that you are capable of a happy ending. It will come for you, I am sure of on that. Focus on your love for Henry and rule this land with the mercy and compassion that I have seen in you. Remember that you are capable of using light magic. Your time will come, just be patient."

She nodded even though she didn't truly believe what he said, and he finally released her to slowly back away, holding her gaze.

"You'll understand if I keep my distance for a while, won't you?" she asked him before he had made it out of the door of the dining room, her arms wrapping around her middle once more in an attempt to keep herself from falling apart.

He responded with a nod, and with that, he turned around and walked out of her house.

* * *

As Robin Hood walked down her front steps into the brisk night air, one thought reverberated through his mind.

He loved her.

He loved her, he loved her, he loved her.

* * *

**My poor OQ shipper heart.**

**I hope I made you feel that too, because if I didn't, I'm not doing my job properly.**

**Thank you for reading! **

**Oooohhh so what is Robin going to do now?**

**Your guess is as good as mine, because**** this is pretty much all that I had planned out...I'll have to think about where I want this to go from here.**

**No matter what I do, OQ is endgame for this story.**

**Reviews make me smile, and suggestions would be great! :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**A short transition chapter. **

_**I own nothing.**_

* * *

He loved her, but he also loved Marian.

The side-walk in front of him had begun to blur from unshed tears. Robin started to make his way back to his camp, thought better of it and decided to walk around for a little while longer.

It'd give his eyes a chance to dry out, and perhaps the frosty air would help clear his mind of the invasive thoughts of the stunning raven-haired woman he had just left. By the time he made it back to Marian, he would have to let Regina and his feelings for her fade to the back of his mind, where they wouldn't threaten to re-emerge.

He couldn't remember knowing anyone so selfless. He had noted how much it had pained her to let him go like that, to tell him to be with his family and be happy without her.

Despite his best efforts, he couldn't shake the feeling of loss that pervaded his being. If she had walked into that tavern all those years ago -

But then he wouldn't have Roland. The boy who had brought him so much joy in the darkest days of his life, whose dimpled smile could make him forget the pain and the guilt from Marian's loss.

_But you might have had children with Regina_

He pushed the thought away. There was no use in thinking of what might have been.

This was it. This was his life, with Marian and Roland.

He would have to be happy with that.

* * *

_I make my own destiny._

Yes, Regina conceded, she had made her destiny.

As she walked up the stairs to try to get some sleep, all she could think was that she had made her bed all those years ago when she had run away from Robin.

And now she would have to sleep in it.

Alone.

* * *

As he opened the flap of the tent, he saw Marian sitting up in her sleeping bag, stroking the sleeping Roland's hair.

She looked up when he entered, a stoic expression on her lovely face.

"You went to her," she said simply.

He didn't answer; instead, he knelt down beside her and kissed her lips, tangling his fingers through her long wavy hair.

She returned the kiss, moving her fingers from her son's hair to Robin's.

It was a loving, tender kiss. Marian poured into the kiss all the affection she had for her husband, and Robin tried to convey how much he had missed her and how much he would always love her.

When they pulled apart, she rested her forehead against his, her eyes closed.

She felt his warm breath on her face as he spoke.

"I did, and you have nothing to worry about. She understands. She wants us to be happy."

She faltered slightly, taken aback. "She wasn't angry? She doesn't want me dead?"

He shook his head and moved his forehead away from hers, his hands cradling her face.

"She will never try to harm you. Ever. She's no longer the Evil Queen that you have always known. She hasn't been that for a very long time."

As Marian looked into his eyes and saw the expression of love, happiness, and a twinge of regret, she believed him. She had always trusted him, and she believed that he was telling the truth. If Robin believed in the Evil Queen's changed character, she would have to as well.

The Evil Queen would not be one of the many things she would have to worry about it in the new land she had found herself in.

* * *

**The next chapter will be better and longer, I promise, I just have the least amount of time to write on Friday-Saturday-Sunday, so I thought I'd put what I had up now.**

**Your reviews for my last chapter made me smile, thank you so much! I'm glad that you think I did Regina's reaction justice. :D**

**Yes, Regina will get some sort of pal/companion soon.:)**

**This chapter completes the emotional trauma part of this story, now it's time to start fixing it! **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I apologize if some of you were offended by Robin kissing Marian in the last chapter...but she is HIS WIFE, and I guess I failed at conveying that the kiss was kind of a let's-kiss-her-to-convince-myself-that-I-made-the-right-choice-in-leaving-Regina-and-that-I-do-love-Marian-that-much kiss.**

**_Remembering him comes in flashbacks and echoes_...(Taylor Swift's words not mine. Try to listen to "Red" while thinking from Regina's POV and _not_ tear up.)**

_**I own**** nothing.**_

* * *

Regina's alarm went off at 6:04 the next morning. She didn't moan and roll over to hit the snooze button as was her usual habit. She always intentionally set her alarm twenty minutes before she actually had to be up so that she would have a little time to lie in bed and wake up slowly, but this time, she didn't take those extra twenty minutes. Instead, she hit the off button and made her way to her closet to pick out a dress for the day.

She hadn't really slept since he had left.

She hadn't wanted to. She couldn't risk another blissful dream, another envisioned falsehood, only to wake once more and find herself alone and unwanted.

After he'd left, she hadn't cried. She'd already cried enough. She had been thinking about Daniel.

Daniel, her first love. Daniel, the only man she had ever wanted to marry. Daniel, the only man she had wanted children with. Daniel, who had been so cruelly torn from her. Daniel, who she had never stopped loving. Daniel, who had come back ever so briefly. Daniel, who had told her to love again.

"I tried, Daniel," she'd whispered into the night.

As she applied her make-up, she told herself that this was it.

She had given herself one night to fall apart, but from now on, she would have to hold herself together. That would mean no more self-pity, no more wallowing. She had meant every word that she had said to Robin. She did love him, but there was nothing she could do to change the past since she would not be so sadistic as to go to her sister's lengths to get what she wanted. Vengeance was no longer an option. Going after Snow White the first time had only increased the size of the hole in her heart that her mother had created when she had murdered Daniel. It hadn't made her happy.

And Henry would never forgive her if she did something to Emma Swan.

Henry was now all she had, even if she didn't have him fully.

Robin would never be hers. He was Marian's. She'd have to try to move on and let go, and she wouldn't be able to do that if she dissolved into tears every five minutes.

With a final glance in the mirror to ensure that her midnight blue dress looked pristine and that her face showed no hints of the night before, she made her way down the stairs to grab her coat and purse, wondering if she could guilt Emma into letting Henry stay with her for a few days.

It was 6:38 when she walked out her front door; earlier than she usually left her house, but she was thankful that it was still dark and that the celebrations of the night before would mean that she probably would not run into anyone on the walk to her office. It was a still and quiet morning, with a light dusting of snow on the ground and light frost decorating the shop windows in frozen fractals.

As she walked by Granny's, she glanced at the closed sign, and was left breathless as an unwanted but not unexpected wave of emotion crashed over her.

A hint of disappointment that she wouldn't be able to pick up her usual morning coffee, and a surge of dolor at the memory of the young boy who had stood at that very door the night before, smiling but feigning a childish disgust at the public display of affection between his father and Regina.

She looked away immediately and walked faster towards her office.

Regina slipped the key out of the lock of her office door and surveyed the room, eyes moving from left to - oh.

Her eyes landed on the fireplace with the horse statue on the mantel. The keys slipped out of her hand.

Whispered words, tender caresses, soft chuckles, a mouth tasting of a mix of brie and red wine. Every memory that she'd attempted to erase played through her mind.

She clamped her jaw in an attempt to steel herself from the continuous onslaught of memories.

Her fingers reached for the light switches, and she flicked every switch except for the one for the sitting area of her office. She'd keep it in the dark for now, and once the light from outside illuminated that section, she resolved that she would not look there.

Purposefully moving her chair in such a way that she would face the other side of the room, she sat down at her desk and threw herself into the mayoral paperwork she had been neglecting. She started with David's suggestion of throwing money at repairs after Henry's little driving lesson and looked into the reports of infrastructure damage.

She turned the radio on a side table to a classical music station and worked solidly for three hours, subconsciously thankful that her magic lessons with Rumpel had taught her the art of concentration.

A knock on the door startled her, causing her hand to jerk the pen it held, drawing a small line over the page.

She frowned at the paper and called, "Come in."

Regina wasn't sure who she had been expecting, but she was taken by surprise as the door opened and a baby car seat appeared, followed by the back of another black-haired woman as she closed the door.

"Snow! What are you doing here?"

"I brought you breakfast!" she smiled, as she lifted a paper tray with two coffee cups from Granny's snuggled inside with her free hand. "You didn't really get a chance to meet Neal yesterday, so I thought I'd bring him to you to introduce him to his step-grandmother. You weren't at your house, so I figured you would most likely be here, and if you weren't I was going to send out a search party for you," she chuckled nervously. "And, well - I figured you could use some company after - after last night," she trailed off.

Automatically, Regina shook her head and responded, "As you can see, I've got quite a lot of work to do -"

"Don't shut me out, Regina," came the quiet yet stern reaction. "Don't do that again."

Regina gazed at the woman she had spent the past four decades hating with a stoic expression on her face, ruminating over whether she should insist that the woman get lost or whether she should let her stay.

But Snow had a soft and pleading look in her eyes, so much like the one she'd worn as a child in the early days of Regina's marriage to Leopold, when she'd stood at the entrance to the Queen's chambers, asking to be allowed to stay up past her bedtime to spend time with her new mother, telling stories and having her hair combed and braided.

Just as she had all those years before, Regina relented; this time it wasn't from a fear of displeasing the king, but from a deep desire for acceptance, the kind that only a loving family member could bestow.

She found herself nodding as she mumbled, "Fine."

Snow grinned at her and Regina found that she wasn't so annoyed by Snow's happy expression as she had always been before.

Regina rolled her chair away from her desk and gestured towards the long meeting table to her left. If Snow was questioning why she hadn't moved for the sofa instead, she didn't voice it. Instead, she placed the car seat on the table and began to unbuckle her sleeping son.

Regina couldn't keep a smile from blossoming on her lips as she took in the sleeping child. She'd had a soft spot for children ever since she'd stopped counting herself as one of them, and only now did she realize how much she had anticipated the coming of the little prince.

As Snow lifted her son out of the blankets she had covered him in, he slowly opened his eyes and made a soft cooing sound. Snow cradled him in her arms and with a lift of her eyebrows she wordlessly inquired if Regina wanted to hold him.

Tentatively, Regina reached out her arms to accept the babe. Once she had him secured, she sat down in a chair at the table and gazed down at him as he gazed up at her.

"Hi, Neal," she whispered, "I'm Regina."

Neal let out another soft coo before closing his eyes once more.

"He has David's eyes...and your ears," Regina remarked to his mother, one of her fingers moving to bop his little nose.

"Thank you for doing everything you could to protect him from Zelena," Snow said, "It meant a lot to me - and David."

Regina looked up from the sleeping child's face and into Snow's. She saw sincerity in her expression, and though she wouldn't have the guts to say it out loud any time soon, it meant the world to her to have earned such respect and gratitude, especially after all the suffering that she had caused them.

She'd never been the greatest at expressing her emotions, so she returned the sentiment with only a smile.

Snow pulled two paper bags out of her purse and placed one in front of Regina, along with one of the coffee cups from the tray.

"I don't know if you've eaten yet, but I brought you a bagel and a coffee just in case."

"Thank you," Regina said, as she placed Neal back into his car seat to sleep while she and Snow ate together.

She didn't realize that she had been so hungry until she bit into the cream cheese filled bagel.

The two women ate in silence as they watched Neal sleep.

Finally, Snow broke the silence: "Regina -" she paused, biting her lip.

Regina felt her muscles tense as she braced herself for the topic she knew that Snow was about to bring up.

"Regina," she began again, "Emma feels horrible for sabotaging your relationship."

Regina opened her mouth to respond, but the schoolteacher look on her step-daughter's face made her shut it.

"She didn't know who that woman was. She didn't know that she was bringing back Robin's wife. She saw an opportunity to save a life, and though she shouldn't have, she saved a life, and that, she does not regret. She wants you to know how sorry she is that she ruined your chance at happiness."

"I can't blame her for saving a life," Regina muttered. A part of Regina wondered if that meant that Emma had run into Robin Hood in the Enchanted Forest, considering he hadn't exactly elaborated on how his wife's death had been his fault. She couldn't contain the craving she had to learn more about him, even if she would never have him, and so she asked: "How did she manage to save Marian's life?"

She saw a flicker of alarm flash over Snow's face.

"Snow, how did she do it?"

Snow took a deep breath, and rubbing a hand on her son's stomach said, "At some point in their trip to the past, Emma and Hook met Rumpelstiltskin, and he put a glamour over the two of them so that if they ran into any of us, we wouldn't recognize them when we met them in the future."

Regina wasn't sure where Snow was going with her explanation.

"Emma found herself captured by you for letting me escape. She was put in your dungeon to be executed the next morning."

Regina's mouth opened in slight astonishment; her jaw dropped even more at what Snow said next.

"Marian was in the next cell over. Emma managed to escape your dungeons, and she took Marian with her."

_I ruined his life._

She rested her elbows on the table and lowered her face into her hands, palms on her forehead, fingers raking back her hair.

Regina's mind raced through her memories. She tried to remember any reports of escapes that her Black Knights had brought her, but she couldn't- oh. There was one time, the night that she had almost succeeded at burning Snow at the stake - a blonde woman who had called herself a princess whom she had captured at King Midas' castle had escaped only hours after her capture with another nameless prisoner. Could it be possible - if that blonde had been Emma, had that nameless woman been Robin's wife? But that didn't make sense. Wouldn't Robin have known that she had captured Marian? Why would he have told her that Marian's death had been his fault?

_Unless he didn't know._

That was the only explanation. Somehow, Marian had managed to survive the time that Robin had thought her death had been his fault, Regina had captured her shortly after, and then she had never found her way back to Robin because Emma had brought her to the present before Regina'd had the opportunity to execute her.

_How many lives have we taken trying to get what we want?_

She only noticed that she was breathing heavily when she felt Snow's hand rubbing her arm, trying to soothe her.

She lifted her head and looked at Snow, her eyes welling with tears. She'd told herself that she was done with crying, but she had never been expecting such a revelation.

"Thank Emma for me. Thank her for managing to save Marian from dying at my hands."

Snow seemed to be stunned by the desperate plea, but she soon recovered and pulled her stepmother into a soothing hug. Regina didn't flinch away.

Even if Emma hadn't saved Marian, the truth would have had to come out eventually, somehow, that Marian had been killed on her orders. The truth always found away of stabbing her where it hurt most. Regina had no doubt that the knowledge would have destroyed her relationship with Robin even without Emma's meddling, and she wasn't sure if she would have been able to live with that guilt.

She had never considered who her prisoners were. Mothers, husbands, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons...she had never thought of that. Vengeance had blinded her to such an extent that she never contemplated how many lives she had ruined in her attempt at destroying the one who had ruined hers.

She wondered if Robin had known that Marian had been saved from her dungeons when he had come to see her early that morning and what he would do when he found out.

He would hate her.

She sobbed at the thought. He had spent so long blaming himself for leaving his son motherless, and it hadn't been his fault after all. It had been hers.

She extricated herself from Snow's arms. "He'll never forgive me," she said quietly, as tears continued to stream from her eyes.

"Oh, Regina, of course he will! Everyone else has come to forgive you, and he's seen you perform light magic! He knows that you're no longer the same person," Snow tried to comfort her.

Regina took a shaky breath, "So maybe he'll forgive me. But he'll never -" her voice choked as she realized the futility of the last glowing embers of hope that she hadn't realized she kindled. "- choose me. I ruined my own happiness."

She saw tears glistening on the other woman's face before she pulled her in for another hug.

* * *

**A/N:** IT GETS WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER.

Snow and Regina's relationship fascinates me endlessly so this chapter happened and it gave me feels haha.

So I've started to think of a loose outline (loose because I had a plan for this chapter and it managed to change midway through) for this story, and I AM SO EXCITED and I hope I can execute the plan.

What I will tell you to tide you over until the next update:

1) So that earlier 'no' was TENTATIVE as I said, and Elsa WILL make an appearance. My plan is that she will be in ONE chapter only, and I am using her to unleash the anger that has built in me towards a certain character ever since I started watching OUAT from a "Omg Regina is awesome and I just want her to be happy" point of view.

2) Companion/Pal - sorry, no Jefferson or Little John as I don't want to infringe on the ideas of other fic writers who I've seen do that. Snow will not be Regina's only pal. There WILL be another Merry Man who does befriend/get to know Regina a little. That's all I'll say for now...*hint hint*

3) OUTLAW QUEEN SHALL PREVAIL.

Thank you for reading and following and reviewing; thank you, thank you, thank you.


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